I work at a company called MetaLab in Victoria, BC, where I specialize in content creation and media relations. eSports have been a passion of mine since the early days of Starcraft: Brood War, and now I cover the Dota 2 scene. I've written for Huffington Post as well as Business Insider.

The Oatmeal's Latest Fundraiser To Save The Tesla Tower

Matthew Inman (perhaps better known as web comic creator The Oatmeal) has an ambitious fund-raising project up his sleeve—to save Tesla’s Wardenclyffe Tower.

Wardenclyffe Tower is rich in history, a symbolic landmark of Nikola Tesla’s last great piece of scientific research that was in Tesla’s mind, destined to change the world.

I sat down with The Oatmeal for this Forbes exclusive to discuss his Tesla passion, ambitious campaign plans, and his motivation to attempt to execute such a massive fundraising goal.

Inman learned that the land was going up for sale for $1.6 million after seeing incoming tweets, saying that the folks trying to save Wardenclyffe were having trouble raising money, and then it got promoted on reddit. Someone in the comments mentioned that the people saving Wardenclyffe should probably contact The Oatmeal, due to having one of the most virally-successful fundraising campaigns in the case of Funnyjunk vs. The Oatmeal, which eventually became Charles Carreon vs. The Entire Internet—so Inman decided to step in and see what he could do to help.

The name of the company with intentions to purchase Wardenclyffe isn’t known at this point, nor their intentions with the property, but the rumor is that they would have the structure torn down, or have it turned into a retail space. It most likely woud not be a memorial, museum, or anything particular to Nikola Tesla—which didn’t bode well with Matt Inman, as one of Tesla’s most influential enthusiasts.

The state of New York has offered a matching grant of up to $850,000—so if Inman’s Indiegogo campaign can raise $850,000, the state of New York would contribute the other $850,000— totaling $1.7 million, and from there a cash offer can be made on the land. If the fundraiser achieves less than that, say $500,000 or so, New York state will still match that number, so he’d have a million dollars to make an offer to purchase the real estate. The non-profit group is an organization called Tesla Science Center, they had informed him Inman that the current offer on the property is not a cash offer, so it is believed that if anything over a million dollars in cash was raised, the campaign stands a chance to succeed. The non-profit organization had also mentioned that any remaining money would go towards renovating land and buildings on the site, because the current state of the property is a bit of a mess.

Inman is once again choosing to utilize Indiegogo after the success of BearLoveGood, and taking it upon himself to manage the newest campaign. All proceeds are going directly to the Tesla Science Center group (a 501(c) 3 non-profit), and they have been trying to buy Wardenclyffe for 15 years.

I asked Matt Inman a few more questions about the project:

What inspired you to do something of this magnitude?

Inman: As I’ve mentioned in my comics, Nikola Tesla was an unsung hero in the history books. He gave us so much and we gave him so little in return. The fact that there’s no physical Tesla Museum in the United States is a testament to this. Tesla’s rival, Thomas Edison, has multiple sites which honor his achievements, but Tesla’s got some little memorials here and there but no real museum here. This is something that needs to be fixed.

If your campaign is ultimately successful, what else is planned for the future of Wardenclyffe?

Inman: If we get the land, this will just secure the property as a historic site. This frees us up to try and renovate the museum or science center from here, and prevents another company from getting the property.

Building a science center will take a lot more time and money, so in the interim I’d love to have a Nikola Tesla Festival on Nikola Tesla Day (July 10). It’d just be a big one-day outdoor event in Shoreham, NY where Wardenclyffe is located. The non-profit I’m working with has the blessing of Tesla’s nephew, and one of the last remaining people on earth who personally knew Tesla and shook his hand, and I’d love to have him there. I could also probably arrange for us to have a BBQ powered by Tesla coils and possibly some Tesla-inspired musical performances. I’d be there too, of course. The Tesla Festival would be an interim way of showing everyone who donated what came of their generosity.

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A huge thank you and tons of kudos to both Inman and Forbes for taking on this noble cause. It is, in fact, about damn time we honor Tesla in a way we shamefully never did when he was alive. This is the proverbial last straw: we simply cannot run the risk of having this property stripped of its history, at any point in time, but especially now while the nation’s industry leaders are trumpeting the virtues of innovation in fueling long-term economic growth and while the rest of us run around absolutely dependent on technologies that would not exist if not for Tesla’s revolutionary work an entire century ago. We cannot be that blind or callous or lazy as a society. We need more Teslas, but for now we can at least start by honoring the first one. It’s just too bad electricity isn’t free, as he wanted it to be…imagine the money we could raise here if everyone could instead donate what they pay each year in electricity. (Sent from my iPad, Tesla, near Seattle, WA. My iPhone, Nikola, is recharging.)

Yes, wonderful article. Makes me cry. Four years ago I discovered Tesla and I are from the same ancestor. When my father passed away, I have found family tree in his files. Need to expand on this article. We are doing what he had hoped to finish while waiting support:”The inevitable conclusion is the water-power is by far our most valuable resource. On this humanity must build its hopes for the future. With its full development and a Perfect System of Wireless transmission of energy to the energy to any distance man will be able to solve all the problems of material existence. DISTANCE, which is the chief impediment of human progress, will be completely annihilated in thought, word and action. Humanity will be united, wars will be made impossible and peace will reign supreme.” This was in 1900.

This is fantastic! So great to see so many coming to help Tesla! There are also some filmmakers working on a Tesla movie with a similar plan to help called Fragments from Olympus. Tesla’s time is coming!!!! yah baby!!!!!

If every household around the world donates only $1, there would be plenty funds for now and future operations. Yes, no matter where people are, they use alternating current. They should ask electrical companies to donate $1 from electrical bill.